Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

"It’s a big deal to title your album, so I wanted to make sure that it was the right call," says Taylor. "I started thinking about the word ‘fearless’ and what it means to me. It isn’t that you’re completely unafraid. I think fearless is having fears, but jumping anyway."

Jump? With this record, Taylor Swift takes a flying leap. FEARLESS is a creative snapshot of an undeniable talent taking the next big step, both in her life and in her music. The high school freshman who once sang of "trying to find a place in this world" has now seen so much more of it. It shows in the new music.

"I think that when you grow up two years, you learn a few things," reflects Taylor. "Some people have been saying that the songs seem more mature. You know, I wasn’t really going for that. I just wrote what was happening to me. I grew up a little bit and that came into my songwriting."

It’s important to remember here -- these are truly her words. Following an impressive trend established on her debut CD, Taylor has once again written or co-written all 13 songs on FEARLESS – including eight tracks by herself. Songwriting is a craft Taylor has been honing since first strumming a chord on a guitar at the age of 12. By that evening, she had written her first tune. She was hooked. Her life became consumed with songs. Every spare moment was spent writing, playing, or thinking about music. Even while hitting the books as a straight-A student at Hendersonville High School, just outside of Nashville, she was doodling lyrics in the margins of her notebooks.

Even now, with her life barreling down the country music fast lane, Taylor still makes it a priority to put the guitar, pen, and paper she keeps nearby to good use. And it’s not easy with her schedule. After signing her record deal, Taylor left her high school locker behind to be home-schooled out on the road. Now instead of English and Latin class, Taylor has been studying George Strait, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts on tour. Instead of class pictures, she’s posing for the covers of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Seventeen.

Now, more than ever, making music has become her way of making sense of all the madness. Writing songs helps her stay grounded as her career launches into the stratosphere. But for listeners popping in Taylor’s new CD and expecting to hear a laundry list of lyrics on the plight of country music superstar rising through the ranks, FEARLESS is going to surprise you.

"I didn’t want to write songs about being on the road and being in hotels and missing your family and missing your friends," insists Taylor. "When I was like 14 or 15 and I would hear those things on an album...being alone, living out of a suitcase... and I was always like, ‘Ugh, skip!’ I’m inspired by boys and love. Those are my favorite things to write about and I don’t think that that is limited to high school. I’d rather write songs about how I’m feeling and the relationship side of things."